An independent source of news and commentary concerning Lake Holiday POA in Cross Junction, VA
January 2006 – Issue 01/25
thesummitadvisor.com ... Links & Archive ... Bulletin Board
An independent source of news and commentary
concerning Lake Holiday POA in Cross Junction, VA
January 2006 – Issue 01/25
thesummitadvisor.com
... Links
& Archive ... Bulletin Board
Clubhouse Progress
The CCTF met again on Jan 18 to review the survey results. The top five choices were 1)large hall, 2)exercise facility, 3)meeting rooms, 4)cafe and 5)library/game room. Full details are on the Lake Holiday website on the clubhouse page. The Project Definition Statement was reviewed and it was decided to finalize the document. It was since re-circulated with a list of modular pricing options in place of the least cost design description.
The task force proceeded to review the 2004 renovation plan and the 2005 replacement plan and a list of comments was recorded. The list, along with the survey and PDS, will be used as input to a board presentation and later, the RFP.
Architectural Committee Activity
The AC met Jan 16 with a relatively light New Construction agenda. Only three applications were received, compared with an average of 12-20 over past months. A number of unapproved new construction changes were reviewed and remediation recommended. Some received a $50. deduction from the conformance bond for each infraction, and one unauthorized color change is pending field review by members.
A number of ICG (Guidelines for Initial Construction) additions were approved, which involved paving projects, work on Sundays and Holidays, and downspout discharge routing. A subcommittee was formed to investigate which rules in the LHLLC Design Standards would be applicable for incorporation into the ICG. A temporary gravel parking lot was approved adjacent to the model home at 604 Masters. In addition there were 7 final inspections, 2 resident's projects, 2 resale inspections and 4 tree removal requests reviewed this month.
MPTF Meeting
An informational Master Planning Task Force meeting was held Jan 9 for the purpose of acquainting new board members with various aspects of the community. Participants included current 2006 and prior 2005 board members, the General Manager and representatives from LHLLC/Miller & Smith and Aqua America. Five non-participants filled the audience. None had any open forum comments. The President began with the rules of order, which essentially exclude any non-participant comments, questions, outbursts or disruptive rants throughout the meeting.
Overviews and status were given by the GM and the Treasurer. Surplus handouts were not made available to the audience, but could be requested through the office, which made parts of the presentations hard to follow. An brief Aqua America presentation was given followed by some Q&A. Of note, Aqua has begun partial operation Jan 1, but has not yet filed with the SCC. The application must be carefully worded, and is expected to be filed soon. Aqua stated that their rates would be lower than the current (2006) rates, and the Board President added "significantly lower".
A dam presentation followed reiterating the toe drain, spillway and culvert issues, and added that the state dam commission expects work to start circa 2008 on a increased capacity spillway and draw down facility. An assertion was made, based on simple projection that with the current spillway capacity, 11" of rain in a short period could overtop the dam. This was apparently to impress the issue on new members, and the actual calculation is believed to be considerably more complex and require a substantially larger amount of rainfall. The Development, Construction and Settlement agreements, listed later on the agenda, were recapped at this point. The notion that the recent developer agreements circumvented a $20M un-reimbursed utility expansion was impressed on new members.
A GM perspective on various utility issues followed. One participant inquired on the accuracy of a Summit Advisor forum remark that residents are being billed without SCC rate approval. This was lost to a discussion of how the Advisor is a source of misinformation (we prefer "alternative perspective") and the meeting moved on with a presentation by LHLLC. Of note was mention of a replatting/relocation of lots on Palmer Circle (Sec 10) to the "J" area on Masters Drive and the future development of section 9 with a possibility of an automated back gate. Apparently there was a referenced handout with additional build out activity indicated.
The cryptic acronyms appearing on the agenda were then elucidated. DEC stands for Developer Executive Committee (or equivalent) consisting of the President, Vice President and Treasurer who interface with the Developer and utility company in order to investigate various options. Included are a "JV", or a "Joint Venture" possibility (but not likelihood) of purchasing the golf course with the idea of creating revenue to fund the dam and other expenses. Also discussed in the same context was expansion to Section 8A and RV storage in section "K".
A filtered status of the Clubhouse Task Force was given which echoed the status of scheduled activities. Concerns were voiced on the applicability of the usage survey. A report on the revised governing documents followed, indicating that work continues, but no new dates were audible. An Architectural Committee report reiterated the committee's emphasis on housing diversity, to which LHLLC participants gave their acknowledgment. Also noted were the joint Lake, Dam and Architectural Committee positions on docks, and the concern that insecure docks could break loose in a storm and clog the spillway culverts. The three hour meeting wrapped up at ten.
Although the PA was switched on and lights were blinking, the overhead speakers were virtually inaudible, making soft spoken participants difficult to hear. Several microphones were lying uselessly on the floor. Despite these obstacles and the lack of reference material, considerable insight was available to the audience. Residents are encouraged to attend MPTF meetings (they are public) and bring their own listening devices.
Clubhouse Task Force
The Clubhouse Community Task Force (CCTF) met Jan 5 at 7:00 PM. The good news was that both the mold inspection and structural inspections were favorable and no major problems were found. There was no bad news. The resident usage survey is published in the January Lake Holiday Community Newsletter - Residents are urged to respond to this survey even if you just have one or two priorities. It's important to get a broad view of community expectations.
Many of the room definitions are completed and are awaiting survey results. A number of outside features were discussed including treatment of the main entrance. Prior quotes were examined and some broad cost elements ascertained. Next, the Task Force will critique the two existing plans (new and renovation) as part of the definition statement it is working on. The next meeting is set for Jan 18 to review the survey results.
The Bulletin Board has gone virtually unused to date. We urge residents to give it a try - it takes a bit of "hacking" to navigate if you haven't used one before. Subject links are not underlined so's you have to click on boldface subjects to see what's in them. Got a comment, announcement or just an idea? Posting a message isn't that difficult...
Residents e-mails for the Month are printed below to simplify your navigation and our maintenance. Be a star reporter or commentator and sent your e-mail to forum@thesummitadvisor.com <--note new address!
Your e-mails are listed below in chronological
order. Entries may be archived or removed every Month and/or at
our discretion. Entry text is limited to 500 words (about 25
lines in this format) and may be edited to conform to standards
of heading format, font and length. By sending e-mail to forum@thesummitadvisor.com, you indicate your permission to
publish here, unless you state otherwise. Retractions from same e-mail
IDs will be honored - please indicate subject and date. Date and
Subject will be included from the heading. If you wish your name
or pseudonym known please include it in the text. Please do not send attachments - text
only!
Date: 1/04/2006 13:43:55 -0500
Subject: No Approval
The office has not received an approval from the SCC
to raise the water and sewer rates. When asked they said that
they expected a new tariff sheet any day now. I believe that this
action is in violation of the state requirements for regulated
utilities. Call to ask them if they've gotten the required
approval.
Date: 1/05/2006 15:16:09 -0500
Subject: No Approval
The other e-mail is correct. The office does not
have a tariff sheet approving the raise in utility fees.
Date: 1/06/2006 15:44:23 -0500
Subject: MPTF Agenda
DEC? JV? 8A? A bit esoteric on the Monday 1/9 agenda
aren't we? I thought this was supposed to be informative to the
public. What are they up to this time?
Date: 1/11/2006 22:42:58 EST
Subject: Open Forums Desperately Needed
Dear Summit Advisor:
I read your interesting notes on Monday's Clubhouse Task Force meeting and I take issue with the Board member(s) who stated that the Advisor is a source of misinformation. I would concur with your own opinion that the Advisor is a website that includes "alternative perspectives" recorded and submitted by many residents, not just the Advisor's editor. It is unfortunate that our community's Board Majority will not tolerate any alternative opinions and actively work to destroy dissenters.
Since we all pay for information distributed via the Board's communication devices (i.e. the monthly newsletter and the website), I believe it would be beneficial for these communication avenues to regularly include "alternative" opinions. Similar to newspapers having Op Ed sections with Letters to the Editor, our monthly newsletter should include a "Letter to the Board" section and our website should allow for alternative and even dissenting opinions by community members on significant issues. I think the Board Majority have the Summit Governing Documents and governing process confused with Moscow's and Beijing's!
The Board Majority clearly need to take a history lesson about the US Constitution's 1st Amendment on Free Speech!
Date: 1/13/2006 11:50:24
Subject: information
This Board obviously does not want us, the property
owners, to have any information that will cause an outcry. (Sometimes,
the "gobbledegook" in the President's Report seems to
be deliberately written so as to be difficult to understand.)
Since the "Summit Underground" has moved on, your web
site is now the only place where we can get this information. Of
course they are going to try to discredit what you publish by
calling it "misinformation"!
You do have an obligation to be sure of your facts before posting
them but, all things being equal, the community absolutely needs
this alternative to the "party line".
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2006 10:58 AM
Subject: WHY ???
TO: The Summit Advisor
FR: Bob Pumphrey, Sr.
SUBJ.: WHY ???
I have been a resident in Lake Holiday for 11 years. I moved here
to build my retirement home, enjoy the beautiful Lake Holiday, be
part of a quality community, county and state with excellent
social and educational amenities, be near to quality medical
services and be fairly near my children. All of these goals have
been achieved except a quality community.
Candidly, in my 75 years, I have never seen and been subjected to
the terrible so-called management we have at Lake Holiday. While
there's no doubt we have had or are making major improvements in
our previously abused infra-structure, the manner in which we
have been operating since 2001 as a result of the persons on our
Boards of Directors, is totally contrary to the basic tenants and
beliefs upon which I was raised, experienced, educated and live.
I really don't understand these people and don't know what
motivates them to conduct LHCC operations in such a tyrannical
manner. What rewards are they after ?? Have they determined that
Lake Holiday residents are mostly crooks and stupid and therefore
must be controlled under Iron Rule to maintain order ??
Must we go through another "Carl Simms Revolution" in
order to bring things to a normal state ?? Why can't we live in
peace and harmony and truly "Love Our Neighbors" ??
Date: 1/23/2006 14:57:23 -0600
Subject: Golf Course
Please post on the forum:
I would like to bring to the attention of all residents on how
important it is to become part of the process of the sale of the
golf course if and when it happens... my understanding is that
provisions of the sale of the course would be to include the use
of lake water for the irrigation of the course. This would not
pose an issue during an average season but in my opinion if we
were to enter a time of prolonged or extreme drought we need to
make sure there are provisions to be able to shut off or greatly
limit the flow of lake water to the golf course. It would be a
shame to have an unusable lake to maintain a green golf course.
This will have to be addressed and put into community by-laws
prior to any sale of the course. After the sale it will be too
late for any action. Currently I personally don't know of any
pending sales, but now that I have your attention I urge the
board members to take action and address this now, before it's
too late. Golf courses can use an extreme ammount of water and
another issue that hasn't been brought up is runoff from the golf
course that could lead to an extreme ammount of fertilizer and
turf chemicals that will definitly find "their" way
into our precious and clean lake. Let's be proactive and get this
insurance policy written into any sale of the lake... it's not
our land but most definitly it is our water!!!!
Concerned Lake Holiday Resident,
Chris Dueweke
Date: 1/24/2006 22:30:35 EST
Subject: Golf Course
Past Board members have stated (without proper due
diligence and supporting data) that any water drawn from the lake
for a golf course would have a negligible effect on the lake
level. Clearly, after last summer's drought that resulted in an
extremely low lake level, these past unsupported statements about
golf course water usage were obviously wrong. Any further
reduction in the lake level last summer would have been
disastrous for boaters and swimmers that use the lake fingers and
even some docks in the main body were almost unusable. Therefore,
I agree with Mr. Dueweke that we need some stringent safeguards
to prevent future reduction of the lake level during droughts.
Resident and previous Member for the Lake Committee,
Duran Field
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